GPS Cell phone



by Alex Tesla


The Global Positioning System (GPS) was funded, developed and controlled by the US Department of Defense. Since the late seventies, GPS has become an important help to navigation all over the world. Originally intended for the US military, GPS became publicly available years later and now it is regarded as an important feature in plenty of consumer products.

How does GPS work? Well, essentially there are 3 elements which make everything work: satellites, earth monitoring stations and receivers (ex: cell phone, telefone celular). GPS provides specially coded satellite signals which can be processed in a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to compute position, velocity and time.

Nowadays, almost all cell phones (telefone celular) aren't limited to carry on simply a conversation. Features such as mp3 player, digital camera and video camera have all become standards in the latest mobile phone models. It is expected that the GPS feature will eventually be added to this list, and it will offer the capability of tracking any cell phone user.

The capability of tracking a cell phone user becomes essential in emergency situations, like a car accident, through the use of 911 emergency phone call, where every minute might be a matter of life or death. In situations like this, the GPS system might pinpoint the exact location of the road accident, allowing emergency services to be quickly dispatched.

It's essential to mention that so far, most GPS system in mobile phone (telefone celular) is limited to tracking information only. Nevertheless, one could have navigational capability thru the use of full screen cell phone/PDA combos with map displays and other cellular phone accessories, and third party paid services. If one doesn't want to sign up for a monthly paid subscription service, he can use one-time-paid-only software programs which will enable a few of the navigational capabilities.

Even though there are many benefits in using GPS cell phones (telefone celular), there are some people who're concerned about the violation of personal privacy. Because the US Congress hasn't authorized location tracking without actual evidence of wrongdoing, there've been court hearings which have not approved the requests of government agencies in obtaining the cell phone GPS tracking information for suspects or ordinary citizens.

This privacy matter has made some progress towards the cell phone user`s rights, because there are a few laws that have been passed which guarantees that GPS cell phone users will have some protection from the release of the tracking information, with the exception of 911 emergency cell phone calls (telefone celular). It's expected that these laws will guarantee that the benefits of GPS in cell phones will be enjoyed by everybody without infringing anybody`s privacy.

Sometimes when there's a technological innovation, there are also some concerns about privacy or some rights infringements. But no matter how much of a concern this is, it seems that a compromise will always need to be reached, in order that new technologies will take their places in everyone`s lives. In the end, we all live in a globalized consumer world. Mind you, have you already got your GPS cell phone?

Roberto Sedycias IT Consultant for PoloMercantil

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